On Wednesday, prosecutors in Nantucket dropped a felony sexual assault charge against the actor Kevin Spacey.
What We Know:
- The prosecutors dropped the case after intense scrutiny from Spacey’s defense team during months of pre-trial hearings, according to ABC News. Their decision to drop the case followed a meeting between the accuser, his parents and prosecutors on July 14, following a July 8 hearing. During this hearing, the alleged victim exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when he was testifying about his missing cell phone that was used on the night of the alleged attack.
- “The complaining witness was informed that if he chose to continue to invoke his Fifth Amendment right, the case would not be able to go forward,” Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said in a statement Wednesday. Ultimately, the accuser decided not to waive his right under the Fifth Amendment.
- In January, Spacey was charged with indecent assault and battery stemming from a July 2016 incident when he allegedly groped a young man at a bar. The alleged victim admitted to authorities that he lied to Spacey about his age and said he was 23 when in reality, he was 18. Spacey pleaded not guilty and would’ve faced up to five years if convicted.
- During the alleged incident, the accuser sent text messages, including a video, to his girlfriend, according to CNN. His missing phone was a key piece of evidence. Spacey’s defense team argued that the accuser and his mother “deleted things off the phone.”
Mitchell Garabedian, the young man’s civil attorney, issued a statement after the announcement of the dropped criminal charge. “My client and his family have shown an enormous amount of courage under difficult circumstances,” he said in the statement. “I have no further comment at this time.”
